'Tis 17F outside and it's going to drop 17 degrees before the sun come up again, if it does. Cold. Snow. Snow. Cold. A neighbor left an old hot water heater at the curb and dogs were lined up for a hundred yards hoping to get warm.

Hoping for a little left over heat, eh? If my hot water tank dies again I'm putting in an on-demand system. I feel sure that the cost of said unit will allow the dollars I would save be an added factor for the plumbers fee - so it will be a wash. But it will take less space and be much more efficient.

If you have on-demand be sure you have soft water and as few minerals in it as possible. Otherwise you'll be replacing it every few years and the mineral deposits build up to the point where the unit fails. At least, that's the experience out here in The Wild West.

Just 'cuz I don't believe in snow does not mean I don't suffer some. We had to call an emergency plumber last night and in order he had to replace a broken faucet from the hot water tank to the washing mac hine, and the copper piping supporting it, and the drain pipe for the washing machine into the waste line in the garage and then the waste line itself.

So today I had to rebuild the timber behind the faucets, cut a drywall section to match the part that had been torn out, replaster in two coats, move everything out of the garage and scrub the whole area down to get rid of the greasy grime from the old pipes, move everything back in and reconnect the washing machine only to discover it had an internal leak on top of it all.

Heave and haul! Lift a pawl! Bring our Mom to the top of the fall. Round she goes Falling low, Down again to the depths below. Shift her up! Lift a cup! A son of Mom is a bitter pup! Heave, heave and haul!

"Bullshit is always bullshit." Hmmm. Yes, But there are categories of bullshit. No? Certainly inane bullshit is allowable. I mean, the obviously bullshit bullshit is surely intentionally so inane as to be obviously bullshit.

That guy with the Google Earth is certainly impressed with the Permian Basin. Yes I know about it, I've driven through many times and flown over a lot. I worked for a geologist for a couple of years in college and always liked maps and looking at the ground from the plane.

I live about a mile from a pad. There are six different gas wells that cross under my property. Not sure how they manage that, but I get statements for six wells every year.

In a thousand years all of these spots will be overgrown, relics, or pads for windmill towers.

For shame, Amos! You leap to unwarranted conclusions again! Your doctor has warned you about that. Why do you think that I was speaking of you? There were 1,365,999 other people in Sandy Ego just last year. You have one chance in 1,365,000 of being correct. Were I you I would not bet on those odds.

"Honorable kamikaze pilots of Rising Sun Empire of Japan, today you going on most dangerous mission. Today you take kamikaze airplane high up in the sky, find Yankee aircraft carrier, bring kamikaze plane down fast, crashing on deck, killing yourself and all aboard. Now, before we have ceremonial sake toast, are there any questions? Yah, in the back, Sakimoto."

You people be nice to my boy! We didn't have much when he was growing up and everything he has he owes to me! I taught him all he knows and to always wear his rubbers when it's raining outside or he'll catch his death of cold! And to eat all of his peas or to take at least three bites of everything on his plate! So if he shows up without his rubbers and it's raining let me know! And if you see him eating someone and taking fewer than three bites let me know as well!

It's so hard raising Galactic Overlords, you have NO idea! And they never call or come to see me even though I made them what they are today! I went Without so that they could reach the pinnacles of Galactic Overlordness and this is the thanks I get!

I have a couple of gallons of green tomato relish as of this weekend. Please return the jars when you finish it. Let me know if you'd like a pint jar and I'll leave it by the door in case I'm not home when you come by.

I wish I could taste that heavenly delight, SRS. Unfortunately, I shant be travelling nearby and shall therefore not be able to partake of you culinary prowess. On the other hand, if you are nearby before it's down my gullet, this here chicken fricot I just manipulated into a soup/stew orgasm is yours for the ladling.

As for the morrow, Mum's 88th Bday, two dozen roses (red and white) with pink carnations and Baby's Breath and fronds mixed in, a can of frozen lobster, cracked steamed fresh today 1.5 pound lobsters (3 which I will pick up in the morning), 4 small bottles of her fav sparkling wine, a box of Ganong Delecto mint chocolates, a fruit cake, a frozen ice cream cake in copious vanilla combinations, a rather nice BDay card... I'll stop there. She's been through a lot more ringers in her life than most of us will ever experience. She suffered just delivering me fer fuck sake! and then had to put up with trying to make me a decent human being. Not an easy task but I like to think she did a decent job... as best she could, given what she had to work with.

Cracked the bugs and didn't take even a single bite but, come around 4PM, I am piggin out on beer and bugs. Only thing missing will be crackers. Soda crackers? Soda biscuits? What is it ye ferriner types call em?

I built a bit of fence in the garage to finish off the dog enclosure so that the chocolate lab doesn't charge out of the building any time I drive up and open the garage door. Now the gate has something to latch against (since the stuff that used to sit in that space has been long gone and allowed dogs to run through the gap). Neighbors up the street had their truck jacked up, put on landscaping pavers (that were stolen from the yard across the street from me) and the wheels stolen, so it seems prudent to go ahead and park the car in the garage at night. Now I can open the door without a dog racing out to hop in the car with me, just to ride back into the garage.

Sweet Jaysus, what a night. We meant to leave Vegas Sunday morning and drive through to San Diego, leaving around 10 and arriving by 4 pm. About twenty miles north of the NEC/CA State line some poor bastard flipped his SUV over the divider landing in the southbound side of the interstate and killing himself and sending his girlfriend to the hospital. Blam.

Every Sunday, even without this complication, the traffic out of Vegas heading toward LA is denser than buffalo spoor. The Nevada Highway Patrol locked down two of the three lanes to investigate and clean up. The traffic backed up thicker and thicker and further and further. By the time we reached Whiskey Pete's near Perris, you couldn't get on or off, and we were a little low on gas. We exited into Whiskey Pete's casino and hotel and service station complex by crawling down the shoulder, and we were stuck there. A couple of hours later, we thought it might be better to crawl than do nothing, so we started out of the parking lot, but we never made it. We moved three feet in an hour inching our way toward the exit. Finally we gave up in disgust and ducked into a parking spot and retreated intot he casino, which as anyone who has been in one of these hellholes knows, is a nightmare of flashing lights, bells, zombified slave souls and bizarre neon.

After several hours sipping coffee and checking the scene, the parking lot had not changed at all, it was solid metal. Rumors flew--a body had been found, a crime scene investigation was ongoing, etc., etc., but no=-one knew the whole story and no-one had any idea when things would clear. We threw up our hands and booked a room, and retreated up tot he 16th floor from where we could see the endless stretch of cares crawling south on the 15, and not moving at all in the parking lot of Whiskey Pete's. We shut down, watched TV, slept for a couple of hours.

Finally at ten at night the southbound side began moving at 20 to 30 and the parking lot thinned out. By 11, the parking lot was almost6 cleared and we decided to dodge the inevitable rush hour of Monday morning by driving through the night. Everything went copacetically after that, we cruised into California at 70 and made our way down through Temecula into San Diego by 4 AM with rest stops. I then crashed into my bunk at home and slept like a cold brick for four hours.

The trip to Vegas was for a gathering of old friends, always enjoyuable, but Gawdawlmighty, what a price. :D

2.5km walk! And I didn't have to stop to stretch my back! Oh... I wanted to but I just said F that! I thought, if A can put up with all that Calleeforneeahhh traffic, least I can do is endure a little excrutiating nerve pain. I feel energized! Although... I may need a jump start from a heavy cranking amps battery to get me out of bed on the morrow. I ain't no spring bunny when it comes to mobility eh?

Sunny and 18C! I have an uneasy feeling about it. 3/4 moon is Saturday. This is the seventh cycle of cold-warm-cold this fall and this is pretty warm. Not that there could be a Buffalo on the way but any amount of snow bothers Mum greatly (yes, I know youse have heard that before) so I do get uneasy feelings these days. The rags are talking about a possible snow on Thursday but the various forecasts are all over the place so I'll have to rely on my 40+ years of experience living here and say... it ain't here yet so we'll see.

Hard to believe Chonga's dead, but the world is a little better now. The breeze is not quite so polluted and the Chicago River only partly dissolved a boat today. Even Randy Ronni over in Blighty is charging less.

Hard to believe Rap is still trying to smear my good name and spread crazy lies about me after all these years, but he still is. The silly schmuck is obsessed. He's worse than Teribus in a political debate. I'll have him investigated after I am elected. He is gonna be banana-boarded with extreme prejudice.

Having barely recovered from the heroic Midnight Race from Vegas to Diego, I am now packing for another expedition to the clear cool air of Arizona's High Desert country--75deg F daytine, below freezing at night, The sufferings I go through to honor my fellow beingsi are just Gargantuan. I am having to pack a sweater, for goodness sake!